RESCUE WORK IN HISTORY. 83 



mechanical skill now so easily acquired it will be easy to prepare an 

 electric turn-table by which these revolutions can be accomplished. 

 This can be set in rotation by the electric force of the Northern Lights. 

 Seated upon its edge and whirled eastward for a dozen minutes, one 

 would find himself, perhaps, in the midst of the twenty-sixth century. 

 Then turning southward to the abodes of men, the adept would be 

 received with the greatest eagerness. To these far-off people, 'the latest 

 progeny of time,' he would appear as a Mahatma wise to overflowing 

 with the lore of bygone centuries. It is even possible that such an in- 

 vention was already in the hands of the ancient Mahatmas. Of such 

 origin beyond a doubt were the sages or Old Men of the Mountains, who 

 from time to time in the past have appeared in the cities of men, filled 

 with forgotten information and equipped with magic power. Such a 

 one of a surety was Trismegistos, three times greatest, and such was 

 Peter the Hermit and Gautama. In the light of our present knowledge, 

 the appearance of Van Winkle at the town of Falling Waters should be 

 carefully reinvestigated. The explanation currently given is far from 

 conclusive, and the little men of the Catskills were probably of an astral 

 nature and not contemporaneous with the ignorant villagers who 

 scoffed at their existence. 



"But far more important than any result from the projection of 

 the personal presence into the future are those derived from its retro- 

 jection into the scenes of the past. For this purpose the machinery of 

 the turn-table should be attuned to the greatest possible accuracy. Its 

 movement must be as perfect as that of the finest chronometer. A 

 whirl or two too much or too little might leave the personal presence 

 stranded in an age on which its influence would be wasted. For in- 

 stance, the attempt to rescue Caesar from his ambitions or Brutus from 

 his crime would be futile if attempted before Caesar was born. A single 

 day too late and the whole matter must needs be gone over again from 

 the first, with large chances that the drifting floes of the North may 

 have swept away the turn-table. In such case the painful journey on 

 foot round and round the pole till the desired meridian is reached 

 would be inexpressibly tedious. Even the most eager adept could 

 hardly be blamed if he directed his steps toward his own century and 

 his bodily home. To prevent gross accidents and to secure the best 

 results, therefore, a considerable number of people should cooperate. 

 We should make of the matter a kind of Salvation Army. Seated on 

 the turn-table a hundred adepts could be whirled round and round to 

 the westward, each descending at the time his mission might desig- ( 

 nate. Miss Jones, for example, would descend in 1776 to gain the con- 

 fidence of Benedict Arnold and thus save him from his treason. Our 

 friend, Doctor Cribbs, perhaps could descend in the reign of James II., 

 and by a few doses of Swamp Root cure the judge's sad malady and save 



